Source: China News Service
"After I got off the field, I couldn't help but cry, I felt released, my dream was fulfilled, and it was very refreshing." Hou Zhihui, who stepped off the women's 49 kg podium, smiled at reporters in Mandarin with a slight Hunan accent.
Source: Zhongxin Video
In order to "that moment", Hou Zhihui waited for 1818 days.
Fast forward to August 1, 2016, just four days before the rio Olympics opened, when 19-year-old Hou Zhihui learned of his final replacement. In her place was Meng Suping, a female over 75 kg player who was still in China at the time.
"I don't like to cry in front of others, but I really can't hold back, the tears keep flowing, and my mood is broken." When he left Brazil, Hou Zhihui left this heart-stopping monologue.
The Chinese weightlifting team made the decision to replace Hou Zhihui before the game because of concerns about her knee injury. In fact, if she had not been replaced, Hou Zhihui may have a chance to win the first gold of the Chinese delegation at the Rio Olympics.
In the months that followed, Hou Zhihui disappeared for a time and missed the national championship. On the one hand, it is treating knee injuries; on the other hand, psychological trauma also needs time to heal.
In April 2017, Hou Zhihui made a comeback in the preliminaries of the National Games, easily entering the top 16 promotion results, breaking her pre-match self-doubt. In the final, Hou Zhihui grabbed 93 kilograms, 115 kilograms in deadlift, and a total score of 208 kilograms, winning the championship with a clear advantage of 4 kilograms. This result also surpassed the Rio Olympic champion's score of 8 kg.
The picture shows Hou Zhihui in the game. China News Service reporter Han Haidan photographed
In Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2018, Hou Zhihui won three runners-up at the World Championships with a deadlift of 93 kg, a snatch of 115 kg and a total of 208 kg, but due to the positive drug test of the Thai athlete later, Hou Zhihui became the champion.
By the 2019 World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, Hou Zhihui did not play ideally, she won 94 kg in the snatch, but took 117 kg in the deadlift to finish second, and finally finished second with a total score of 211 kg.
The results were not ideal, and Hou Zhihui doubted himself. "Before 2016, I was able to play without distractions and concentrate on lifting according to the coach's arrangement. But in recent years, I often wonder if I am too bad, and when I play, I often think wildly, my performance is unstable, I am more and more suspicious of myself, I think more and more, and I have more and more problems. ”
In the past Olympic cycle, the psychological baggage has always pressed Hou Zhihui, and the "little monkey" who has always been sunny has once become somewhat introverted.
Source: Hou Zhihui.
In June 2020, coach Wang Guoxin took over Hou Zhihui's training in an all-round way.
"The Rio Olympics brought a particularly large shadow to Hou Zhihui at that time, and sometimes when she practiced, she felt that she had no hope, and because of her strong personality, she also had some contradictions with her leaders and teammates." Coach Kingdom New recalled.
Heart injuries are more difficult to treat than knee injuries.
Wang Guoxin first began to heal Hou Zhihui's heartbreak. "My first task at the time was to solve the trust problem with her. It took about two weeks, and we talked through it, and it was all heart-to-heart talk. ”
The initial solution to the heartbreak, followed by the solution of technical problems.
"Hou Zhihui is capable, she has personality, and your training method must be adapted to her, but this adaptation does not mean unconditional connivance." Wang Guoxin said.
At first, in the process of running-in, there were several conflicts between the two because of disagreements. Through analyzing the data and explaining the rules, Wang Guoxin's new suggestions were gradually accepted by Hou Zhihui and applied them in the competition, and achieved good results.
The Asian Weightlifting Championships in April 2021, to some extent, was a "mock test" of the Tokyo Olympic Games, hou Zhihui played steadily, winning the overall championship with 213 kg and creating a new world record, while breaking the world record and winning the championship with 96 kg, and also achieved a 100% success rate in the test lift.
This gave Hou Zhihui a lot of confidence: "Recently, I have a little feeling of finding my original heart, and I have found the happiness when I first started practicing weightlifting. ”
With this good attitude, Hou Zhihui finally came to the Olympic arena of her dreams.
In this decisive battle, her biggest opponent is Mirabay from India, who showed great strength at the Asian Championships three months ago, taking the gold medal with 119 kg in the deadlift.
The picture shows Hou Zhihui displaying the gold medal at the award ceremony.
Therefore, in this hard battle, Hou Zhihui's key lies in how to play the standoff, and at the same time, whether he can try to open the gap with the opponent in the grasp.
In the face of this hard battle, Hou Zhihui continued to play steadily, grabbing 94 kg, lifting 116 kg, and achieving a total of 210 kg, all the way to win the championship smoothly.
Hou Zhihui, who was immersed in the game, did not even realize that she had won the championship after completing the third move, and when she walked down the field to see the excited coach Wang Guoxin, she finally realized that she had fulfilled her dream.